The remote accessability of people and information is continually increasing. A person now has at his disposal many different communication devices, such as a telephone, cellular telephone, pager, facsimile, and e-mail. Likewise, the availability of general information such as financial data, business information, weather reports, and/or newspapers, as well as personal information such as a one's calendar or schedule, has grown tremendously.
An advantage to the increasing diversity of communication devices is that the person now has the possibility of greater mobility as well as different mediums for receiving information. However, the increased number of communication devices, coupled with the increased availability of information, makes providing a desired portion of information to one of the communication devices more and more difficult. In fact, often a full-time personal assistant is required to successfully connect to the desired information to the communication device. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford a personal assistant, nor are most personal assistants available around the clock.
In addition to the increasing diversity of communication devices, there is an increasing diversity of communication paths. Traditionally, for two people to talk on their telephones, they had to use a long distance provider in the public switched telephone network. However, there are now alternative communication paths that have specific benefits that make them desirable alternatives to the long distance provider. For example, two people may talk to each other over the internet. Although the "grade" of service is not as reliable as from the long distance providers, the cost is very low. It is difficult, however, to switch ones telephone from one communication path to another, such that most people simply use the long distance provider, even though at times, the higher grade of service provided is nonessential.
Therefore, what is needed is an electronic communications manager that can provide all the benefits of a personal assistant without the extra cost or working hour limitations.
In addition, what is needed is an electronic communications manager that provides a selectable grade of communication service by providing easy access to multiple communication paths.